Season 4, Episode 18:
Islanded in a Stream of Stars
Boomer's escape with Hera from Galactica has resulted in a large hull breach on the port side of the ship. Cylons and humans alike are working to patch up the damage when another breach causes the area's integrity to be compromised. A copy of Six pushes one of the Colonial crewman through a hatch just before she and dozens of others are vented into space.
Bill holds a command meeting to discuss Hera's abduction and the repairs. Ellen tells the group that Boomer used Ellen's rescue as a ploy to find and bring back Hera to Cavil, who will experiment on her to determine how Cylon procreation can be achieved. Saul realizes that his wife knows the location of the Cylon "homeworld" called The Colony.
When Kara and Ellen try to explain how important Hera is to the rebel Cylons and humans' futures, Bill counters that he's sick of prophecies and doesn't want to endanger the fleet on a Suicide Mission. He does agree to let Sonja (the Cylon representative to the new Quorum) send a Heavy Raider out to scout a possible location. When Helo requests to take a Raptor himself to look for the Colony, Bill refuses to authorize it and uncharacteristically tells him to "get over it".
Caprica-Six is released from sickbay after her miscarriage and runs into Baltar, who asks her how she's doing. She indicates that she will be living alone, with her relationship to Saul over with, but she refuses to give into Baltar's ill-timed advances and walks off, leaving him in grief.
In Sharon and Helo's quarters, she is suffering a breakdown as a result of Hera's kidnapping. Helo tries to get her to open up to him, and asks her if she hates him. Realizing that he wouldn't have known the difference between her and Boomer, she apologizes and they make amends.
A funeral service is held for the Cylons and humans killed in the hull breach. Kara (who previously encountered Baltar in the ship's washroom and asked him to check the bloodstains on her dog tags to analyze) finds him preaching about the fact that she's an angel, and how she has discovered eternal life. She slaps him in response and the funeral ceremony ends.
Onboard the stolen Raptor, Boomer begins to bond with Hera, showing her the vision of the dreamworld she used to deceive Tyrol.
In sickbay, Anders has been hooked up to a Hybrid tank by copies of Six and Eight. Kara arrives afterwards and is distressed at his vegetative state, and tries to shoot him in the head so he won't suffer any more pain. At the last moment, he grabs her hand and begins talking like a Hybrid. She realizes that his mind is repairing itself, but Saul deems the procedure too dangerous and orders him to be disconnected for the time being.
Bill goes back to his quarters and realizes that Galactica's structural damage is much worse than he thought. While trying to paint over a cracked wall in his cabin, he has a breakdown and finally admits to Saul that the ship must be abandoned. Although the latter tries to dissuade him, Bill orders all of the civilians to be evacuated from the ship and for Galactica to be stripped for parts.
Boomer delivers Hera to the Colony, and Cavil takes the child from her. When he walks off, Boomer realizes she has made a mistake and begins crying while Hera calls out for her.
Later, Kara goes to Anders's bedside again and explains to the comatose pilot that there is a prophecy spurred on by Hera, and that they need to find out together what it means. She reconnects him to the Hybrid tank and he wakes up, speaking like the Hybrid…
Tropes:
- Abandon Ship: Bill gives the order for the crew to vacate the ship over the next few days, in preparation for it suffering total structural failure thanks to the damage sustained from Boomer's close-range jump as well as everything else having happed to it.
- Burial in Space: How the hull breach casualties are sent off in the funeral.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Xeno Fenner (who complained about labor issues in "Dirty Hands") returns and is nominated for the new Quorum of Ships' Captains, then ironically organizes teams to begin shipping parts from Galactica to other ships in the fleet.
- Continuity Nod:
- The Cylons use the Infinity symbol of the Soldiers of the One from Caprica during the funeral service.
- Kara angrily informs Baltar about how she found her own dead body back on Earth earlier in the season.
- During shots of the Colony, original-style Cylon Raiders can be seen docked in the structure.
- Ellen leads the rebel Cylons in a funeral ceremony, using the same prayer Natalie recited before her death in "Sine Qua Non".
- Roslin and Caprica-Six realize they are having the same shared vision again, after Six told her two episodes prior that she stopped seeing the vision when she got pregnant.
- Bill and Laura mention the New Caprica groundbreaking ceremony where they spent the night bonding.
- Due to the Dead: The Colonial multitheists, Cylon monotheists and Baltar's cult all hold funeral services for those killed in the hull breach incident.
- Foreshadowing: The opening sequence has a vision from Hera where she smashes a model of Galactica into a Basestar model.
- Forgiveness: Sharon forgives Helo for sleeping with Boomer after realizing that he wouldn't have been able to tell them apart at the time.
- Heroic BSoD: Bill gets this upon learning that the damage to Galactica is worse than he thought, and has a breakdown while trying to paint the cracked wall in his quarters.
- Heroic Sacrifice: A copy of Six saves one of Galactica's crewman during the hull breach by pushing him through a hatch just before she's vented into space.
- Indignant Slap: Kara walks up, saying nothing, and slaps Baltar across the face after he reveals to the crew about what she found on Earth. It's clear she's motivated by rage over what he exposed.
- Internal Reveal: Baltar reveals to the funeral crowd that Kara found her own dead body on Earth that it matches her completely.
- Ironic Echo: In the extended cut of the episode, Sharon points out that now she and Boomer have each impersonated the other.
- Irony: Saul and Galen constantly spout anti-Cylon epithets during their various conversations, but they're Cylons themselves (and two of the five creators responsible for the current Cylon race, to boot).
- Kara goes to put a bullet in Sam, for entirely different reasons.
- I See Them, Too: Used when Boomer shares her ability to project a dreamworld with Hera.
- It's All My Fault: Tyrol gets a bout of this after realizing he helped Boomer kidnap Hera, to the point that he turns himself in for his actions.
- Kick the Dog: Subverted. Boomer almost injects Hera with sedative that likely would have done far worse to her than knock her out, but decides against it as she sees Hera's despair and fear right in front of her.
- Mercy Kill: Subverted. Kara gets ready to shoot Anders to try and give him a peaceful death instead of letting him live as a vegetable, but before she can, he wakes up and starts speaking similar to the Basestar's Hybrid. It shocks her enough that she forgoes the idea entirely.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Boomer gets a bout of this after realizing that she has delivered Hera right into Cavil's hands, and that he will experiment on her to discover the secret of resurrection technology.
- Off Screen Break Up: Saul and Caprica-Six's relationship apparently fizzled out between episodes (likely as a result of the miscarriage), as she is said to be living on her own and Saul and Ellen are officially back together.
- One Dose Fits All: Averted and lampshaded. When Boomer gets ready to inject Hera with sedative, she notes that the dose isn't made for children, implying it'll have a more powerful effect on her than simply knocking her out.
- Papa Wolf: Subverted. Helo tries to get Bill's authorization for a mission to rescue Hera, only to be told that it would be a Suicide Mission and that he can't allow it.
- Pet the Dog: Boomer decides against forcibly shutting Hera up, and instead chooses to bond with her using projection.
- The Prophecy: Defied. When Kara begins explaining the importance of the musical notes to the command crew, Bill makes it clear how much he hates the notion of prophecies and how trying to follow them has just crippled the fleet long term.Bill: In other words, it's our destiny to go after her, right? (Kara indicates this is correct) Wrong. I've had it up to here with destiny, prophecy, with God or the Gods. Look where it's left us. The ass end of nowhere. Nearly half of our people are gone. Earth, a worthless cinder, and I can't even walk down the halls of my ship without wondering if I'm gonna catch a bullet for getting us into this mess.
- Shout-Out: The episode's title comes from a passage in the book The Outermost House by Henry Beston.
- Snap Back: Averted. Galactica suffers from a massive hull breach caused by Boomer's escape in the previous episode, which eventually leads Bill to give the order to begin moving the Galactica's crew to the rebel Basestar.
- Stealth Pun: Anders, in his confusion after being connected to the Hybrid systems, says that "there's a hole in the bucket". Amusingly, Galactica is also referred to as "the Bucket", and suffered a massive hull breach from Boomer's escape in the previous episode.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: One of the copies of Eight which was mortally injured in the hull breach thanks Saul for giving her the chance to meet her father and express her approval, just before she dies.
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- Bill uncharacteristically tells Helo to "get over" Hera's kidnapping, prompting a Death Glare in return.
- In the extended cut, Sharon chews out Tyrol for helping Boomer escape Galactica.
